Voters in the biggest U.S. city with an Arab-majority population shifted decisively toward Donald Trump on Tuesday, in a stinging rebuke of the Biden administrationâs policies in the Middle East.
Trump claimed 43 percent of the vote in Dearborn, Michigan, to Kamala Harrisâs 36 percent. Jill Stein claimed 15 percent of the vote in the city, where the Green Party had notched less than 1 percent in 2020.
Trumpâs margin of victory in Dearborn represents a massive reversal from the 2020 election, when Joe Bidenâs won 69 percent to Trumpâs 30.
The huge shift toward Trump will not be decisive in a race where he cruised to a Electoral College victory without the help of Michigan, the state with the highest percentage of Arab Americans. The state had yet to be called Wednesday morning. Still, it was a telling sign of how completely the administration has lost Arab Americans over the war.
Down-ballot results suggest that the move was motivated in large part by anger toward the Biden administration rather than dissatisfaction with Democratic policies overall.
âShe bucked her Partyâs leadership, because she refused to ignore the needs of her constituents â which in this case meant opposing a genocide.â
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a progressive Palestinian American, won 62 percent of the vote in Dearborn compared to Republican candidate James Hooperâs 30 percent. She was easily reelected to a fourth term.
For observers, the contrast between Tlaibâs strong performance and Harrisâs weakness is striking.
âWorking class voters across this country no longer see the Democratic Party as a Party that fights for their interests,â said Usamah Andrabi, the communications director of Justice Democrats, âand they saw Rashida Tlaib as someone who does for the very reason that she bucked her Partyâs leadership, because she refused to ignore the needs of her constituents â which in this case meant opposing a genocide.â
âThatâs what putting democracy back at the center of the Democratic Party looks like,â Andrabi said. âAnything else is a betrayal to everyday people and they feel it.â
Why the Turn?
Some Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan had gone over to Trump because of their conservative values and culture-war alignment. A nationwide ad campaign attacked Harris for her support of trans people, often using misinformation, and the tack had been successful. The issue had helped Trump peel Arab and Muslim voters away from Democrats.
Tlaib, though, took progressive stands on the issue, vocally supporting trans rights.
âEven though social issues were there, a huge focus was on the Middle East and the war.â
So what made Harris perform so poorly in comparison to Tlaib? One lightning rod stands out: Tlaib, a Palestinian American, has been one of the most vocal critics in Congress of Israelâs war on Gaza and, more recently, Lebanon.
One prominent Lebanese American civic leader in Dearborn, Abed Hammoud, said he saw no contradiction in Trump and Tlaib â a social progressive â both winning the city because the election was a clear referendum on Israelâs assault against Gaza.
âEven though social issues were there, a huge focus was on the Middle East and the war,â he said.
The unofficial results for Dearborn track with The Interceptâs reporting on Arab and Muslim residents of Michigan during early voting. Many said they were lifelong Democrats who were turning to Trump out of a sense of dismay over the war in Gaza and the invasion of Lebanon.
Trump has promised to let Israel âfinish the jobâ in Gaza and supported inflammatory pro-Israel policies such as recognizing Jerusalem as its capital. Still, some voters said they wanted to give him a chance after more than a year of devastating war in Gaza â and in light of Harrisâs refusal to break with Biden on the issue.
In a statement, Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the huge shift of votes to Trump could be attributed to Harrisâs failure to take a stronger position on Gaza.
âRather than listening to the clear majority of American who support both a ceasefire and a suspension of weapons to Israel, Vice President Harris only struck a slightly more sympathetic tone toward Palestinians while sticking with the substance of President Bidenâs disastrous stance,â said Awad. âThis led to an unprecedented shift of support from Muslim, Arab, and other communities who traditionally vote for Democratic presidents.â
âVery Hard Thing to Doâ
Trump campaigned aggressively for the Arab and Muslim vote in Michigan, paying several visits in the raceâs final weeks to Hamtramck, which has an all-Muslim city council, and Dearborn. Trump cast himself as the peace candidate, and Awad called on him to follow through.
âThe president-elect should fulfill his campaign pledge to pursue peace abroad, including by ending the war on Gaza. However, this must be a real peace based on justice, freedom, and a state for the Palestinian people,â Awad said.
Dearborn was a center of the national âUncommittedâ movement, which sought to push the administration to shift its policies toward Israel. Harris rejected Uncommittedâs campaign to have a Palestinian American speaker address the Democratic National Convention in August.
David Dulio, a professor at Oakland University in Michigan, said that given such activism in the area, Trumpâs overperformance was not entirely surprising.
âWe have known this has been a possibility for months going all the way back to the presidential primary when Uncommitted gets 100,00 votes statewide,â Dulio said. âWe knew that this was a point of contention in these three Arab American communities.
Many individuals in these communities expressed dissatisfaction with the current administrationâs policies towards Israel and the conflict in Gaza. The Uncommitted movement co-founder, Abbas Alawieh, mentioned that even his own family members, including cousins and friends, voted for Trump despite the emotional burden they carried. Alawieh acknowledged the difficulty of their decision, considering the complexities involved.
He expressed hope that voting for Trump as a strategic move to end the conflict would yield positive results. However, he anticipated that members of the movement would mobilize in protest to influence politicians from both major parties. Alawieh acknowledged the challenges ahead and the possibility of facing legal consequences for their activism but emphasized the importance of taking action.
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